Keke Palmer’s little bundle of joy is here, and she’s loving motherhood so far. On Feb. 25, the 29-year-old actor gave birth to her first child, son Leodis Andrellton Jackson, with boyfriend Darius Jackson. Palmer and Jackson announced their baby’s arrival two days later on Instagram, giving the world a first look at the tiny tot. “Hey Son!!!!” Palmer captioned a series of pictures featuring her family of three. “Only 48hrs of being parents!”
Nearly one month into parenthood, Palmer briefed her millions of Instagram followers on what life’s been like as a new mom. “Mommy’ing is coming along if you were looking for an update,” she wrote in a caption on March 20. “I have juggled quite a few careers but this is my greatest gig of all. Learning how to balance it all and looking forward to discovering this new person I am becoming. I will never be the same again, but if you thought I was a bad mama jamma before, you can’t imagine the greater purpose my son has given my life! It’s giving, SUPER SAIYAN.”
Palmer also shared that she’s “loving the new world I get to indulge in now as a mom,” adding that she’s been busy piling up her Amazon cart doing some “fake shopping,” though she hasn’t “quite pulled the place the order button.” She added, “Mom ‘stuff’ is a big business, who knew.😝😅❤️🙏🏾🔥😘🤦🏾♀️.”
On April 2, Palmer updated fans on her motherhood journey once again. The “Nope” actor shared a video on Instagram of herself dancing around to “Slide” by Sada Baby with little Leo in her arms. She captioned her post with a reminder that almost one year ago to the day, she joked that she was pregnant on April Fools’ Day.
“And to think! Just last April fools I ‘joked’ about being preggers … we manifested you little buddy! I love hanging with you and you just be looking crazy like a caveman 🥹🤣😍😘,” she wrote.
Palmer reportedly met her beau Jackson at a Memorial Day party hosted by Diddy and Issa Rae in 2021, according to Us Weekly. Three months later, the couple made their relationship Instagram official when Jackson shared his love for Palmer in a since-deleted post (via People), writing, “Never would have expected summer 2021 to turn out the way it did, but here we are. I’m glad we were able to help each other throughout our lowest of times & show one another that what we are bringing to the table is everything that we got.”
In December 2022, Palmer surprised fans when she announced her pregnancy while hosting “Saturday Night Live.” “There’s some rumors going around, people have been in my comments saying, ‘Keke’s having a baby, Keke’s pregnant,’ and I wanna set the record straight – I am!” the star said before pulling open her jacket to reveal her baby bump.
Just a month before baby Leo’s arrival, Palmer celebrated with a Disney prince-themed baby shower, which was dubbed “Once Upon a Baby.” Get to know more about him ahead and see all his cutest snaps so far.